The Afternoon Line: NCAA Basketball, January 29th

There’s been a few large line changes on the Wednesday college basketball slate, providing plenty of value for the players that think they’re an under-or-over reaction to what’s happening.

The biggest movement of the day was in the San Diego State vs. New Mexico line, which moved a whopping 7.5 points due to roster chaos for the Aggies. We broke that down earlier, but there were a few smaller slips as well.

It might have been issued a bit late, but Wake Forest opened as a 4.5 dog at Notre Dame, but that’s -9.5 now. Though it’s not official, it seems the wagering community thinks senior point guard Brandon Childress and Chaundree Brown won’t be playing night. Childress is the Deacs leading scorer and assist man, so his loss is plenty to move the number alone.

Also Vermont opened -10, but has been pushed to -12.5 over New Hampshire by the bettors. Their best game might be a six-point loss in Charlottesville to Virginia, but the Catamounts are 5-1 in the America East, and will look to claim one of the bottom eight seeds in the NCAA Tournament with a win in the conference tournament. Meanwhile the Wildcats of New Hampshire are 3-3 in the same league with nothing close to a good win, and the gambling public thinks if the choice is Live Free or Die for UNH, they’re going with the latter at home.

We’ll check back around 5:30 with some best bets on the closing numbers, and some tips for the late games as well.

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